GRAND RAPIDS -- Calvin College has eight students in Japan, and all are safe after feeling tremors from the massive earthquake, a spokesman said.

"They were evacuated from the building they were in. But all are safe and accounted for, and they've been encouraged to contact their family and friends at home," Calvin spokesman Matt Kucinski said this morning.

The students are inland and about 500 miles from the quake's epicenter.

Hope College, which has ties with Japan dating back to the 1870s, has three students studying in Japan this semester. They are all safe, and happened to be traveling outside Japan because of spring break.

Six students from Japan are also studying at Hope College, spokesman Tom Renner said.

"They've all advised us that their families back in Japan are ok, Renner said.